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just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

just wondering, has anyone else had the experience of milk coming out of their baby's nose during feeding? my son is 11wks old and this has happened 3 or 4 times, whe he has coughed or burped while feeding. not too worried, he doesn't seem too upset or uncomfortable, but none of my friends have ever had this happen, so wondered whether anyone else had!

Re: just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

This happened to my daughter once when she spit up while nursing...so it may also have been the the spit up coming out. I don't know if doing it repeatedly is worrisome or not - you'd probably want to try and make sure none of the liquid is aspirated.

Re: just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

Originally Posted by @llli*expat-mum

I downloaded a great LLL lecture on the anti-infective properties of human milk awhile ago, and the speaker (a pediatrician) said that's actually a natural mechanism to cleanse the baby's nasal passages! Spitting up and shooting milk through the nose could be one of the reasons why BF babies tend to get sick less often/severely--it's like using a neti pot, but with living, anti-infective fluid to get rid of bacteria that would otherwise find a home. If your baby doesn't seem bothered by it I'd guess that's just a normal part of being a healthy breastfed baby.

Re: just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

My 5 week old does this sometimes when he spits up (yep, he's spat up while on the boob haha) I panicked and took him in to be checked, the Physician's Assistant (she sees my son) said his epiglotis(sp) should prevent him from aspirating, but if he coughs or seems troubled, hold him kinda upright to make it easier for him to clear everything out...I think that's what she said, anyway.

Re: just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

Originally Posted by @llli*expat-mum

I downloaded a great LLL lecture on the anti-infective properties of human milk awhile ago, and the speaker (a pediatrician) said that's actually a natural mechanism to cleanse the baby's nasal passages! Spitting up and shooting milk through the nose could be one of the reasons why BF babies tend to get sick less often/severely--it's like using a neti pot, but with living, anti-infective fluid to get rid of bacteria that would otherwise find a home. If your baby doesn't seem bothered by it I'd guess that's just a normal part of being a healthy breastfed baby.

Awesome! Another reason why I am so proud to be a breastfeeding mommy!

Re: just curious: milk coming out of baby's nose

Originally Posted by @llli*expat-mum

I downloaded a great LLL lecture on the anti-infective properties of human milk awhile ago, and the speaker (a pediatrician) said that's actually a natural mechanism to cleanse the baby's nasal passages! Spitting up and shooting milk through the nose could be one of the reasons why BF babies tend to get sick less often/severely--it's like using a neti pot, but with living, anti-infective fluid to get rid of bacteria that would otherwise find a home. If your baby doesn't seem bothered by it I'd guess that's just a normal part of being a healthy breastfed baby.

just returned to this post after months and saw this reply - that's great, thanks for the info, I love it.